"He was the best of us. They struck without provocation, there was no reason. Animals! Brutal! They deserve no mercy! Strike them down, follow them back to their base and kill all of them, all of them! No mercy!" - Delenn

No I wasn't. My dad was either too busy shoplifting, or being blown to bits in Northern Ireland (his first deployment when he joined the RN). Mum was....well probably helping to fix motorbikes

"He was the best of us. They struck without provocation, there was no reason. Animals! Brutal! They deserve no mercy! Strike them down, follow them back to their base and kill all of them, all of them! No mercy!" - Delenn

Aye, pretty much half the British Army ended up doing a tour up there at one point or another during the Troubles.

"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"

I heard the british army liked to cycle guys through NI to give as many men as possible the experience of being in that style of "hostile" environment. They learned how to handle the population and worked out tactics etc. - not sure how much it would help in Afghanistan though, those guys seem a whole different kettle of fish.

Sionnach Glic wrote:Aye, pretty much half the British Army ended up doing a tour up there at one point or another during the Troubles.

He was in the Navy. By all accounts, I don't even know why he was sent really. What good could a writer by trade, a filing clerk of sorts, do in NI? Yet, there he was.

Wasn't much use to him, after NI he was stationed aboard Frigates. First a Leander, then very short stint on a minesweeper, and finally a Type-22.

"He was the best of us. They struck without provocation, there was no reason. Animals! Brutal! They deserve no mercy! Strike them down, follow them back to their base and kill all of them, all of them! No mercy!" - Delenn

colmquinn wrote:I heard the british army liked to cycle guys through NI to give as many men as possible the experience of being in that style of "hostile" environment. They learned how to handle the population and worked out tactics etc. - not sure how much it would help in Afghanistan though, those guys seem a whole different kettle of fish.

Well it gave the Brits and by extension the Commonwealth a far more realistic picture of how Afghanistan would go then the Americans, who I get the impression from never read their own manuals. Afghanistan lacks anything approaching a government or infrastructure though, which even Ireland had.

He was in the Navy. By all accounts, I don't even know why he was sent really. What good could a writer by trade, a filing clerk of sorts, do in NI? Yet, there he was.

Wasn't much use to him, after NI he was stationed aboard Frigates. First a Leander, then very short stint on a minesweeper, and finally a Type-22.

*shrug* You never know when that stuff will come in handy. Still I always have respect and time for folks who put service over self.